COLAs Online eNews

June 2010

What Does it Mean?

We receive regular inquiries about Serial Numbers on COLAs.  A Serial Number is a unique identification number assigned by the COLA holder to identify your certificates.  The first two digits, which are automatically assigned by COLAs Online, represent the calendar year in which the application was submitted.  You (the applicant) supply the remainder of the Serial Number, which may be a combination of letters and numbers but may not exceed four characters in length.  You may choose any numbering system that works for you or your company.  While TTB relies mainly upon the TTB ID number to identify COLAs, the Serial Number is an additional way to track applications and approvals.

Greetings!

Welcome to the June 2010 edition of the COLAs Online eNewsletter, the quarterly publication for news, tips, and information that takes the stress out of your electronic labeling process.  Suggestions and comments are encouraged and appreciated.  Please send messages to COLAsONLINEeNews@ttb.gov

March 2010 eNews Clarification:

In the previous edition of COLAs Online eNews, an article appeared under the “You aren’t the only one that asked” section, dealing with expiration dates on COLAs.  We would like to clarify that expired COLAs may NOT be used to bottle or remove product from bond nor to remove product from U.S. Customs custody.   All taxes must be paid and all products must be removed from a bonded area prior to the expiration date.

You Aren't the Only One Who Asked Us...

I used to receive emails from you all the time about the status of my eApp, but lately I don’t get them anymore.  What happened?

There are a few common reasons why you might stop seeing e-mails from us.  When you registered to use COLAs Online you supplied us with an e-mail address that we added to your user profile when we created your account.  COLAs Online automatically sends e-mail messages to the address we have on file for the person who submits an eApp (electronic application) when the application is initially submitted to TTB and each time the status changes.  TTB label specialists may also send you a message at this address if they have questions about your eApp.  If you stop receiving these messages, there are several things to check:

• If you change your e-mail address you must update your COLAs Online user profile with the new address.  You may do this yourself by clicking on the My Profile link in the box in the upper right hand corner of your COLAs Online home page.
• Although you may enter more than one e-mail address in your COLAs Online user profile, doing so currently causes the system to believe that there is no e-mail address on file.  We are working to fix this problem by allowing multiple e-mail addresses, but in the meantime please enter only one e-mail address per user profile. 
• Check your junk e-mail box to see if the messages are being sent there by your
  e-mail filter.  If they are, add the e-mail address alfd@ttb.gov as a safe sender.  If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, right click on one of the messages and select Junk E-mail and then click on Add sender to safe senders list.

Hopefully one of these solutions will work for you!  Remember, even if you aren’t getting e-mails from us, you can always log on to COLAs Online at any time to check the status of your eApps.

Tip of the Month

Each label that appears on your container of alcohol must be uploaded as a separate image file.

The TTB wine, spirits, and malt beverage labeling regulations each contain lists of mandatory items of information that must appear on the label(s) of each container of alcohol.  Some of those items are required to appear on particular labels, e.g., the class and type statement must appear on the brand or front label.  Other items of mandatory information may appear on any label. 

In order to facilitate the review of your labels for mandatory information we require that each label be uploaded separately in Step 3 and that you correctly identify the label, for example front or neck. 

So, remember to always submit separate label images and also be sure to crop all white space or miscellaneous information like hash marks or printer information from around the actual label.

How Do I?

Withdraw an eApp or surrender a COLA?  What’s the difference anyhow?

There is some confusion about the terms withdraw and surrender, so let’s define them.  The person who submits an eApp may withdraw it any time during the review process up until the time TTB makes a final determination to either approve or reject the application.  The labels on a withdrawn eApp may be resubmitted at any time.  Surrender refers only to COLAs that have already been approved by TTB.  We encourage you to regularly evaluate all your approved COLAs and to surrender the ones you no longer need and COLAs that are obsolete.  Surrendered COLAs are no longer valid for bottling or removing beverage alcohol from bond.  Withdrawn applications are not public records, so no one outside your company may view them, but surrendered COLAs remain in the Public COLA Registry with a current status of Surrendered.

E-apps and COLAs may only be withdrawn or surrendered in COLAs Online by authenticated users.  If you wish to withdraw a pending eApp, you must log onto COLAs Online and open the particular e-application.  Once you locate the correct COLA, click on the TTB ID number to access the Applications Details page.  Click on the Withdraw COLA link in upper right hand corner.  You will be taken to a page that shows some of the details of the COLA and asked to confirm that you want to withdraw the COLA.  You may also cancel the process at this time.  When you click on the withdrawbutton you will be taken to a confirmation page that you may print and keep for your records.

To surrender an approved COLA that you no longer need, log on to COLAs Online and access the COLA in question.  You may search for a particular COLA by entering the TTB ID number in the search box located on your COLAs Online home page.  Once you locate the correct COLA, click on the TTB ID number to access the Applications Details page.  Click on the Surrender COLA link in upper right hand corner.  You will be taken to a page that shows some of the details of the COLA and asked to confirm that you want to surrender the COLA.  You may also cancel the process at this time.  When you click on the surrenderbutton you will be taken to a confirmation page that you may print and keep for your records.

Just a quick reminder

You can check the status of your label application just by logging into your COLA account.   Once into your account, find the application you are interested in, and the status will appear in the STATUS section.  This is a quick and easy way of finding out the status of an application.  By using this feature, it allows you to save the extra step of calling our Customer Service, as they see the same status for your application as you do.

Announcements

2010 Florida Alcohol Industry Federal Compliance Training will be held June 15 and June 17, 2010

You can find further details for this seminar on the TTB website:  www.ttb.gov

View past editions

Comments or suggestions? E-mail us at COLAsONLINEeNews@ttb.gov

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